Speaking Freely

A Few Words On Four Letter Words

Caution: The Following Article Contains Words That Some May Find Offensive .

I received a couple of emails recently berating me for using ‘dirty’ words on my blog. I’ve even been told that using ‘bad’ words indicates that I must have a poor command of the language, that my vocabulary is lax. To those charges I must respond:

What a load of shit. First, there are no ‘dirty’ or ‘bad’ words. There are simply words. Let’s take a look at a few four letter words.

Damn – Currently this is one of the least offensive of the four letter words. If you follow its origins all the way back to the Latin you’ll find it is related to damnum, which means damage, loss or hurt, and that it is related to daps, a sacrificial meal, which is most likely related to an ancient religious term.

Not very powerful if you use it while doing the pee pee dance after you stub your toe, as in “damn, damn damn, I think it’s broken”. But try it as a curse. “Damn you and your foul progeny”! Etymology from Barnhart’s Concise Dictionary of Etymology .

Shit – Perhaps seen as a little more offensive than damn but there’s no off-color words in its pedigree. Shit:-ORIGIN Old English scitte ‘diarrhoea’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch schijten, German scheissen (verb) From the OED. Forget that Ship High In Transit acronym origin, that’s just another form of shit, we call it bullshit .

Hell – Another mild word that’s only insulting to those that you tell to go there. Often used to indicate exasperation. As in ‘Ah hell, the Cubs lost again’.

Bitch – (yeah, yeah, there’s five letters, Stuart was already bitching about that ;)) From the Old English, cognate with and perhaps borrowed from, A Scandinavian word such as Old Icelandic bikkja, female dog, or Old Danish bikke. No one blinks if you use it to mean ‘complain’. Call a woman a bitch and all hell breaks loose. Must be the link to female dog eh? Vixen oddly enough, is often seen as mildly flattering. Etymology from Barnhart’s Concise Dictionary of Etymology

Fuck– Sorry, I can’t find a consensus on the etymology of the word ‘fuck’. The best I can do is mention that the Middle English fucken means ‘to strike’. It does not come from For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. Sorry folks, but acronyms just weren’t used much back when the word was first being used.

This word is often seen as offensive, especially in the U.S. Might be that Puritan background eh? As far as words go, fuck is a workhouse, as evidenced by the following piece by someone well versed in the versatility of the word;

To those that say use of four letter words is proof of poor command of the language, I must again say, bullshit. Ever heard a non-native speaker curse incorrectly? Or a young child that’s just learning how to swear? The misuse is often amusing. ‘Go to bitchy hell’. The BBC’s examination of offensive words was interesting as well;

David Crystal says that no two taboo words are used in exactly the same the way grammatically:

“Damn, for example, cannot be used with a preceding personal pronoun (*You damn!) and arse cannot be followed by one (*Arse you!); fart cannot be followed by off or it; bugger, however, can be used in all four of these contexts.”

It’s also interesting to note that there’s one rule of grammar only used with swear words (or their euphemisms). There’s a knack to inserting a swear word into a word or phrase – and it’s something you don’t do with other words. Consider:

Abso-bloody-lutely! vs Ab-bloody-solutely!

What the frig are you doing here? vs What are you doing the frig here?

Where’s my sodding car? vs Where’s sodding my car?

Can four letter words be overused? Of course, and when they are, they lose their effectiveness. Sometimes though, there’s no substitute for them. Bang your thumb with a hammer? Does screaming ‘french fries’ have the same impact? Swear words are a useful part of the language. They exist in every language and the good ones have staying power. They also save time.

When your buddy laments that he ‘forgot to pay his taxes for the last three years’ you can properly inform him of his duty as a citizen and you can remind him of the severe legal penalties that exist for not giving the IRS their due, or you can just say, ‘Dude, you’re fucked’.

When I was a kid I was taught that it was okay to say hell, but telling someone to go there was forbidden.

Geography plays a role in the determination of what words are ‘proper’ swear words though. Is ‘bloody’ considered a swear word in the U.K.? What about sod? As in sod off?

Some British swear words are seen as quaint in the U.S. It’s not surprising to hear a child of 9 or 10 call another friend a wanker, and it is doubtful they know the meaning. ‘Freaking’ is used often by children as well. That freaking game is cool. While ‘fricking’ or ‘frigging’ is used by adults that don’t want to say ‘fucking’. My friggin’ car won’t start.

>>non-native

There’s a guy that runs a store near where I live that ends nearly every sentence with ‘goddamn’. More often than not, it sounds odd to the ear.

To those of you that have asked what this post could possibly have to do with search or marketing, ask yourself how much spam could be identified simply by identifying emails which contain nonsensical paragraphs of text. What about comment spam? Scraper sites?

You missed one that has expanded in recent years. Cunt, is much higher on the scale than fuck/ bitch/damn/hell or shit. It tends also to be wielded more as a sabre than a claymore. while it tends to be gender specific, is used with equal aplomb by both.

If I told you there used to be a street in London named Gropecuntelane, would you believe me? Unfortunately, the etymology of the word is boring, it has always meant ‘female genitalia’ though now, that meaning may have been expanded a bit.

I always heard FUCK meant Fornicate Under Consent of the King and had something to do with having to ask permission from the king in order to have sex with a woman without being married. Of course, who knows these days… It’s amazing how history gets lost.

Many people have also have a huge stick up their arse that should be removed with extreme prejudice. This argument has been going on for decades and there are still priggish twits that all but wet themselves when someone says fuck. I have a better vocabulary than anyone I know (and get comments on it good/bad routinely) and I still choose to use ‘bad’ words or ‘curse’ words for emphasis.

For example: “Some people are just god-damned evil” to emphasize just -how- evil I mean.

Great blog. Glad somebody has fianlly dealt with this issue. I like to swear in my blogs too, I feel it conveys my true feelings more astutely. I don’t see why bloggers need to censor their work for a largely adult readership.

Obscene words are different from other words in that their use wields a certain amount of descriptive power, hence the scale of cursing (Fuck being more powerful than damn). Granted this scale is culturally based and controlled. It seems to me that they can be overused and therefore robbed of their power.

Personally, I agree with you about almost everything. Only thing is about Bitch; it’s not just an insult, it’s specifically a sexist one when used towards somebody. Same as Cunt. Only time you’d call a guy that is if you want them to bend over for ya. When you insult someone with their sex in mind, that defines them as by their sex, and believe it or not, a lot of people have to deal with that shit on a daily basis.

Hi I swear at myself all the time and, Sometimes at others, But with children now, i try and measure my use.

I guess it is a release, I must say i feel great after blasting someone, and as long as you can take it back, and not loose sight that is is only words, your half way home,

Words are powerful tools, each in combination gives either pleasure – pain- wonderment or can easily awaken senses,

“Sour Lemon”

makes my mouth go watery and i can smell it, and its only a word or 2.

you f* ing sour lemon, dosent

I have heard the first use came from the Irish courts and was for “felonious use of carnal knowledge” and came to England in the late 16th century,
So, Shakespeare himself most probably shortened it to its current use,

thanks DG. I´m a English teacher and if there is something students are always eager to learn, that is slang. So now I´m trying to find the way to teach four-letters words in class without being a fucking taecher myself! your comments are of great value

Though I heartily agree that cursing can be used correctly, being in high school myself I encounter all too often my friends don’t know how to use it, especially the word fuck.
They say it in between every other word and to be truthful it is annoying as fuck.

A largely adult audience. How comforting coming from a twelve year old (me). Don’t worry, not to brag or anything but I’m mature for my age and I prefer adults to children. No worries. Though the etymology really is interesting. You have to be pretty bored to be able to find these things. Now that you look at it it makes sense. There is a obvious scale and I find the examples quite hilarious. In middle school, words go flying. They bounce off the walls. Especially when somebody’s hyper. I only use damn or damn it or dammit or any variation thereof, others not that much. I really should be going to sleep. Should.